1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains generally to the field of gardening implements and equipment and more particularly relates to an improved one-piece annular wire frame for supporting a living plant wreath.
2. STATE OF THE PRIOR ART
It is known in the gardening and ornamental plant trade to assemble a living plant wreath by filling a wire frame with soil, and wrapping the soil filled frame with moss into which holes can be punched for planting seedlings or plant cuttings. The resulting assembly can be hung from a ceiling or on a vertical surface such as a wall or a door as a decorative wreath and many attractive living plant and flower arrangements can be maintained on such a base for relatively long periods of time ranging up to several years.
The wire frame used by this applicant in the past consisted of two ring shaped half-frames which were joined together to form a donut or toroidal shape, i.e. an upper and a lower half was required to assemble a single closed frame. Each half had a U-shaped cross-section, i.e. was open on one side and the two open sides joined to form a single closed frame as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 1A of the attached drawings. The two halves of the annular frame were bound together with wire loops which, it was found, tended to rust and break under the corrosive influence of the moist soil with which the frame was packed. Upon breaking the wire loops would allow the two frame piece to separate, damaging or destroying the wreath.
For these and other reasons of convenience, simplicity and economy it was found desirable to provide an improved wire frame which would eliminate these and other difficulties of the previously used design.